Mental rotation and the identification of disoriented objects.

Compared the effects of stimulus orientation among 30 undergraduates across an object-naming task and a left–right decision task using the same line-drawing stimuli in a within-Ss design. Stimuli were shown at various orientations by rotating the objects in the picture plane. The effects of orientation on object-naming were different from those observed in the left–right task. Results suggest that 2 mechanisms are involved in the naming task, one of which is more sensitive to orientation effects. Results also suggest the possibility that one of the mechanisms underlying the effects of orientation on object-naming time may be mental motion. A list of the objects used in the experiment is appended. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)